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Kodaiji Makie and Nanban Lacquerware Sunday, January 2 (Sunday) to February 20 (Sunday), 2005 The Collections Hall, Galleries 15 and 17 After the unification of Japan under the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98) in the Momoyama period (1573-1615), many castles and temples came to be built in the capital of Kyoto. The ostentatious tastes of the warlords of this era led to the demand for decorative interiors and large commissions of wall and screen paintings in bright colors on gold ground and makie-decorated architectural pillars, frames, and furnishings. Objects decorated with makie (literally, "sprinkled picture"), a decorative lacquer technique, in which metal powders and flakes are sprinkled onto the surface of various objects using lacquer as an adhesive, came to be produced in large quantities. Kodai-ji makie--a style of makie named after the temple, which established by Hideyoshi's wife, where some of the finest examples can be found--consists of one of the most ornate and largest category of lacquer from this period. Designs, such as autumnal plants and chrysanthemum and paulownia crests-drawn directly on the surface of raw black lacquer, without an underdrawing, which was then sprinkled with metal powder and polished-became popular. And the complex techniques, e-nashiji ("pictorial pear-skin ground"), in which areas with a translucent film of lacquer was applied to reveal gold flakes, and harigaki, "needle drawing," in which fine details etched with a sharp needle-like tool into the design before the makie dried, became prevalent. Through the large production of this style of lacquerware, which impressively achieved the effect of raised gold designs on a black lacquered surface, several masterworks-such as doors of the miniature shrine of Kodai-ji's inner sanctuary and furnishings that belonged to Hideyoshi's wife that were preserved at this temple-were created, and this style continued to be reproduced and given the name Kodai-ji makie.
In the same period, the Spaniards and Portuguese, who arrived in Japan, were fascinated by makie and commissioned Christian devotional objects and European furnishings to be made in makie. These export lacquer, called Nanban lacquerware, which often used ornate mother-of-pearl inlay, were named after nanbanjin ("Southern barbarians"), a term used to describe Europeans in this period.
We hope you enjoy the creative energy of early modern Japan through the masterful works of Kodai-ji makie and Nanban lacquerware.
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